HBO's Game of Thrones: Season 2 (1 Viewer)

[joshEH]

What with the new season coming fairly soonish, a discussion-thread.
A huge spread of character-photos from the new season:
http://winteriscoming.net/2012/02/the-first-publicity-photos-from-season-two/
Bang-up job with Brienne. That's almost exactly how I pictured her, though I always had her hair a bit longer. Great makeup work from the team, and good posturing from Gwendoline.
Also, I'm looking forward to lots of rampant Carice Van Houten nudity this season.

 

[Quentin]

Wow...Brienne looks great.
Always game for some perky Carice nudity! As long as she's writhing in the flame of her god.

 

[JonZ]

Carice is a favorite of mine, and always looks great without her clothes. Shes always willing to take them off, but I dont remember Mel ever disrobing in the books.

Really liking the new pics.

 

[joshEH]

[VIDEO]http-~~-//www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-KACxqOwWs[/VIDEO]
Wait, I need to hear more about Lena Headey and corsets, here.
FOCUS ON THAT, HBO!!
Biggest surprise of that video was hearing Robb speak with a Scottish brogue.

 

[joshEH]

...Tonight, bitches.
The early reviews of S2 can't seem to agree on whether this season features more or less "sexposition," though it sounds like it's handled better this time out, at least.
Also, I've been hearing a lot of praise for Natalie Dormer as an actress. It sounds like she might be this season's Bronn, a character who went from being a cipher to being a fan-favorite in the books.
Was recently reading some other ASoIaF/GoT forums, and something bizarre seems to be happening: Joffrey is such an enormous, hateful asshole that people seem to be developing a weird, punk-rock admiration for him. Actually, it seems to be mostly manifesting itself in praise for Jack Gleeson at the moment, but you watch.
Indeed, I found myself enjoying Little Lord FuckPants almost right out the gate. The high watermark of my disgust was when he has the butcher's boy slaughtered; after that he displays self-loathing at his own cowardly actions, and actually makes a pretty good point to Cersei about how they should unite all armies into one.
After that, I was pretty much onboard with the mini-Caligula (even knowing the books).
Wouldn't surprise me if he appeals to that glutted vein of, "fuck-everybody-who-isn't-me" narcissism that's so strong today. I think in some sense, plenty of people have that fantasy of getting over on everyone. There's money, and then there's fuck-you money. Joffrey has the latter.
Outside of that, people have always loved a good prick. Joe Pesci is now legend for that shit.

 

[Josh Dial]

Originally Posted by joshEH /t/318405/hbos-game-of-thrones-season-2#post_3912474
Was recently reading some other ASoIaF/GoT forums, and something bizarre seems to be happening: Joffrey is such an enormous, hateful asshole that people seem to be developing a weird, punk-rock admiration for him.

I've been following the books since the late 90s, and I can honestly say that I've never seen any wide-spread admiration for Joffrey anywhere, internet forum or otherwise. In fact, I would go so far as to say he's the only universally-hated character. Of course, that isn't to say he isn't a character people love to hate--that I would agree with.

Any (recent) admiration would, I agree, have to be credited solely to the wonderful portrayal of the character by Gleeson.

On the topic of the show proper, I can't wait for the s.2 premiere: it'll be fun to see how non-readers' opinions of characters change, and how they react to the new characters.

If I recall, last season everyone agreed to err heavily on the side of caution with regard to spoilers, and to qualify spoilers as either TV spoilers or book spoilers (further qualified to the specific part of a specific book). Hopefully that trend will continue this season: nobody wants to have one of the greatest book series (and what is shaping up to be one of the better TV shows) spoiled.

Also, Jaime FTW.

 

[joshEH]

Man, when Game of Thrones comes back, it comes back fucking hard. Off to a grand start. Dinklage is killing it, as usual.
I look forward to another epic .GIF of Joffrey getting slapped by Cersei.
(Peter Dinklage getting the first credit is awesome, by the way.)
You know it's a great start for a season when the closing credits fade onto the screen, and everyone in the room is all, "Wait? What?! FUCK!!!"
Also digging how they're handling the dire wolves now. Robb's looked great in that scene with Jaime. And the ending -- this show has a set of balls. Not only did we see children being killed, but they actually show a soldier carrying away a dead, bloody baby. Nice.

 

[Sam Favate]

On the subject of spoilers, didn't we give a few days after each new episode last time? Or am I misremembering that? I'm fine with waiting a few days to discuss the finer points of an episode if folks want some leeway time to catch up. This is HBO, after all, and not everyone who watches regularly watches the first airing of a show.

That said, glad this is back. Between this and Mad Men, it's going to be a good spring.

 

[Patrick Sun]

I think just spoilerizing book spoilers of future developments is the norm, but feel free to discuss the current episode and previous episodes after they have aired on HBO.

 

[Greg.K]

Yes, please spoilerize book stuff that hasn't happened on screen yet. I'm still catching up on the books and I'm sure I'm not alone.
BTW, great episode, glad GoT is back!

 

[joshEH]

I still cannot believe this an actual television show. Incredible execution all around.
Weiss and Benioff definitely responded to the huge success of the first season, and really upped the ante on both the production values and the writing. They're making every scene and moment count, and it's glorious. Character re-introductions were awesomely handled, especially Tyrion, Joffrey, and Dany. And I love how much bigger King's Landing feels now.
Also amazed at the economy of the writing. They're condensing a lot of material without making it feel condensed, and never at the expense of character. Cersei's handling of Littlefinger is a prime example of this, as is the scene with Jon and Lord Commander Mormont after the meeting with Craster. It's been several years since I last read A Clash of Kings, but stuff like this immediately springs to mind.

Spoiler: Warning: Spoiler!

My wife immediately jumped when they showed the burning Gods and went, "Whoa! They skipped right to the middle of that story!"

Fave moment? Without a doubt, Tyrion's entrance. He blasted in like a fucking rockstar with his CRAZY ASS entourage, and completely owned everyone he encountered. The only thing that could have made it better was if they were all chanting "half-man" behind him everywhere he went.
Eventually, people are gonna learn to STOP TELLING CERSEI LANNISTER THEY KNOW THINGS, right?

 

[Josh Dial]

That actually happens in the very first Davos chapter.

Otherwise, stellar premiere all around, though I wish it had been 2-hours.

 

[joshEH]

Totally. That hour went by too damn fast -- and I got a Facebook message from my mom immediately afterward, asking if we'd watched; I had no idea she was even a fan of the show.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned how brilliantly they used the comet to tie the various locations together. Just a simple pan-up into the sky and back down again, and bam, you're in a new location. Just incredibly effective, and really drives home how everything is interrelated.
A moment that I ADORED: Tyrion showing genuine sympathy to Sansa when no one else has. You could just about see a "thank you" about to escape her lips, but once Joffrey turned to look at her, she put the mask back on. And Tyrion knows it's a mask. I really hope he's got her back, because from what I've seen in the Season 2 trailers, it's not going to be a pleasant stay in King's Landing for Sansa.
And I think that 10-minute YouTube video of Tyrion slapping Joffrey to Led Zeppelin is going to get a lot more play around my house this season. That Caligula comparison is definitely not going away any time soon.

 

[Brandon Conway]

Originally Posted by Sam Favate /t/318405/hbos-game-of-thrones-season-2#post_3912592
On the subject of spoilers, didn't we give a few days after each new episode last time? Or am I misremembering that? I'm fine with waiting a few days to discuss the finer points of an episode if folks want some leeway time to catch up. This is HBO, after all, and not everyone who watches regularly watches the first airing of a show.

That said, glad this is back. Between this and Mad Men, it's going to be a good spring.

Once something's aired I think it's fair game. I mean - if it's aired and you haven't watched it yet, but go online to read about it anyway, you only have yourself to blame, IMO.

Obviously, Book spoilers need to still be designated as such, as well as stuff about upcoming episodes. But, c'mon, people should be responsible enough to not read about already aired material. Show some self-restraint, I say.

 

[Greg.K]

I look forward to another epic .GIF of Joffrey getting slapped by Cersei.

 

[joshEH]

Can never get enough of seeing someone wallop that towheaded shitbag.

It just came to me that both season premieres ended on heinous acts of violence against little children. (By Lannisters, no less!) Books be damned -- I'm now hoping that, to continue the escalation, next season opens with Joffrey barring the doors on Westeros's largest orphanage, and lighting it on fire "just in case."
Also just found out that the penultimate episode will be written by Martin, and directed by Neil Fucking Marshall. I'm moaning louder than that girl Ros was coaching right now.

 

[joshEH]

Also, this:

 

[Quentin]

Dinklage owning Cersei over her fuck ups is just precious TV. "You LOST her???"

 

[McPaul]

I don't understand what this show is about. It looks like a horror set int the crusades era. What's the big deal? Does anyone have a good synopsis?

 

[mattCR]

Originally Posted by McPaul /t/318405/hbos-game-of-thrones-season-2#post_3913269
I don't understand what this show is about. It looks like a horror set int the crusades era. What's the big deal? Does anyone have a good synopsis?

Hmm. I don't know if this is real, or if you're just trying to see if Josh's eyeballs will pop out of their sockets due to the expected rise in blood pressure.

Game of Thrones is a series of critically acclaimed Fantasy Fiction, with a very significant following.. the books have sold in the millions and are considered by many on the literary front as some of the best fantasy fiction books in a very long time. The breadth and depth of their writing offers tons of well developed characters and places.

It's one of those things; just as there are SciFi buffs who will praise say, Dune series, there are fantasy fans who are deeply impressed with GoT. It's not a horror tome at all; it's mostly about political intrigue, magic (or perception thereof) faith and religion, as well as the will to empire. This does not happen on what we perceive of as earth, and is set just in a fantasy world. So, there is that as well.